


Stay

by Soofdope



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Canon Divergence, F/F, Vague spoilers up to episode 46
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-02
Updated: 2019-01-02
Packaged: 2019-10-03 03:31:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17276288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Soofdope/pseuds/Soofdope
Summary: “Aw shit. Was I – Was it the blue? Was I too tall?”“I mean, you guys have your weapons drawn. I’m assuming – are we gonna do this or what?”or: soulmate AU where the first words they say to you are tattooed on your body.





	Stay

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Royalwriter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Royalwriter/gifts).



Beau had never liked her tattoo very much.

It wasn’t even about the actual words scribbled on her midriff – although, to be fair, those words were pretty fucking weird – but more that she’d never liked the whole idea of it all. _Soulmates._ She could certainly see how there might be an element of reassurance to it, in knowing that there was someone out there that was right for you, and it wasn’t that she didn’t understand how some people got immense joy and hope out of something like that. It was just that Beau herself would have been perfectly fine opting out of participating in this particular experience and leaving it for other people to enjoy.

She’d spent her whole life trying to get away from the path that had been rigorously pre-determined for her, fighting to make her own choices and to be the one forging her own destiny. She wanted freedom, to not be controlled by her parents, nor by some magic too old and powerful to even comprehend, let alone circumvent.

She’d never been a fan of magic to begin with. Even now, despite all the ridiculously cool shit she'd seen her travelling companions pull off, she still wouldn't trade her training for any of it. Maybe it wasn't as impressive as summoning walls of fire or swarms of beetles or literal otherworldly demons, but at least her power was something that was inherently hers. She didn't need some fancy book, like the one Caleb clung to, or the approval of some fickle immortal being. She’d earned it, all by herself, and nobody could take it away from her.

And that quote, so indelibly imprinted on her body, represented the entire antithesis of everything Beau stood for.

Overcome with curiosity, Beau had even done some research on the phenomenon, back when she’d first been with the monks in Zadash. Those few days had been the only times she’d voluntarily ventured into the library to check out some of its vast collection. There were many books and scrolls on the subject of soulmates in possession of the Cobalt Soul. Beau had only had to leaf through a small portion for her fears to be confirmed. There were widely varying theories about the subject – about how it worked, where it came from, what the determining factors could be – but none of them seemed to question the fact that it existed, that it was always right, and that it could not be changed.

And for Beau, that just didn’t fly. 

It had never felt comforting to her, this knowledge that no matter what she did, or how hard she tried, there was this one omniscient force that could have predicted every single action she would ever take leading up to meeting this one person that it had somehow determined to be just right for her.

She was perfectly capable of making that assessment herself, thank you very much.

Sometimes, when she'd meet a particularly hot woman (and maybe she was often a little tipsy in those moments), there'd be a brief moment of consideration, maybe even something like hope. But then the moment would pass, and maybe she’d leave them be, or maybe, emboldened by the fact that her quote was just too particular to be used in any random kind of setting, she’d take the risk and talk to them. Maybe they could spend an enjoyable evening together, and then that would be the end of that. Beau was perfectly happy this way.

\-------

Of course her luck was meant to run out someday. She just really hadn’t expected it to be this particular one.

It had been the absolute last thing on her mind, so soon after waking up to find half of her friends missing. Some hot mess of a dwarf, just sauntering around with her beat-up armor and her oversized weapons, talking shit about Beau’s stealth skills. The intensity of it all, how the words had seemed to vibrate through her entire being, nestling in her bones. It had been almost dizzying.

And Keg had seemed so casual about it all. As if she didn’t care one bit that Beau’s stupid words were most likely embedded on her own body somewhere. It was simultaneously an immense relief and a surprising source of frustration.

Beau, for her part, had been momentarily dumbstruck at hearing those all too familiar words so unexpectedly.

She’d tried to mimic the dwarf’s nonchalant approach, but that mostly backfired, Keg even reacting with hostility to what Beau still thought was a perfectly good compliment to her powers of perception. She’d even taken Caleb’s advice to make conversation, but asking Keg about her day had apparently just made her look like an even bigger weirdo.

Caleb was truly the worst wingman.

\-------

Reluctantly, over time, Beau had let her guard down, and to her annoyance, she found that Keg was actually pretty pleasant to have around. Beau had desperately tried to keep everything casual, but she hadn't failed to notice the looks of admiration and attraction that Keg would send her every now and then, and, well, she was many things, but immune to flattery was not one of them.

So when they'd finally done it, finally gotten that little sliver of vengeance for Molly and the abduction of her friends, she'd given in to a moment of courage and foolishness and made Keg a proposal. Something light and easy, of course, no commitments. She wasn’t _that_ stupid.

And it'd been a good night. A great one even, to be honest. There had seemed to be a sort of unspoken understanding that their respective tattoos didn't have to be acknowledged throughout it all. Even if Keg’s did look pretty hot, the way the words wrapped around her left shoulder and biceps so that they accentuated her muscles.

Still. She probably shouldn't have done that.

Keg had left, as agreed, and the concise but flattering note that had remained, had found its way, carefully folded, into a small notebook Beau kept in her bag. Every now and then, in rare moments of stillness in between pirate hijinks, important First Mate duties, scouring the ocean floor, and making the long journey back to the empire, she’d look for it again, and couldn’t help a small smile from creeping up at the warmth in her belly. The creases in the paper where she’d folded and unfolded it so many times were starting to get a little worn now.

\------- 

Somehow, she’d begun to believe that she would never see Keg again. It was a big world, and she was far away from where they’d first met and said goodbye. And yet here she was, at the entrance of some random bar in Zadash, freshly bloodied and bruised from an intense training session at the Cobalt Soul archive, with none other than Keg sitting right in front of her, hunched over at the bar. Her battleaxe and warhammer rested against the chair beside her, and she seemed to still be wearing the same dingy armor Beau remembered, though she hoped the blood stains were not all still the same as all those months ago. As Keg looked up upon her entry, Beau could tell she’d let her beard grow in a little. It suited her.

Realisation dawned on her face quickly enough.

“Beau? Is that you?”

Beau grinned, kind of sheepishly. She didn’t think to move away from the entrance until the door opened again a few seconds later, nearly slamming into her.

“Uh, yeah.” She moved to sit down next to Keg, making quick work of ordering a pint of beer.

Keg grinned at her, as if she still couldn’t quite believe she was here.

“Just you these days? No more Mighty Nein?”

“Oh no, we’re still a thing, yeah yeah,” Beau responded. “We’re just – we just got into town again yesterday and we’ve been spending a _lot_ of time cramped together recently, so everyone’s just been sort of doing their own thing today. Jester, Caduceus and Yasha are on some _spiritual retreat_ – whatever the fuck that means – and I’m pretty sure Nott and Caleb went to raid the magic shops. Fjord is off on his own doing gods know what. He’s had a pretty intense couple of weeks.”

“And you figured you’d spend the day getting the shit beaten out of you?” Keg remarked.

Beau laughed, ignoring the flash of pain from one particular scrape on her cheek.

“Basically, yeah,” she shrugged. “I got some good blows in though.”

“I’m sure you did. I would’ve loved to have seen it.” There was something about the way Keg said it that made Beau very relieved that she looked away right as the words left her mouth. An unexpected blush crept up on her cheeks. She cleared her throat and took a long swig from her cup.

“How’ve you been?” she said eventually. “Since, you know, last time.”

Keg rubbed her neck with a half smile. “Eh, not too bad. You?”

“Yeah, fine.”

“Cool. Cool cool cool.” Keg tapped the edge of her cup with her thumb, not really looking at Beau. “So what’ve you been up to?”

“Pffsh, so much,” Beau responded, waving her hands for emphasis. “We went to the Menagerie Coast, got Yasha back on the team –“

“The pale, buff one?”

“Yeah,” Beau nodded. “We were sort of pirates for a bit. I was First Mate. Very important role, very difficult. But I rose up to the challenge, you know. And, uh, we went on some crazy quests, got a few close calls, but uh, no more losses,” Beau cleared her throat, “So that’s good. And now we’re back in the empire.”

“Wow, sounds like you had quite an adventure.”

“Yeah, we did.” Beau nodded, running a finger over the brim of her cup in contemplation. “Anyway, what’ve you been doing? Got any exciting tales of your own? Met any cool people?”

“Oh, eh,” Keg laughed half-heartedly, “Not anything near as interesting as what you’ve been up to. Mostly just wandering around. Doing some odd jobs to get by. Drinking my problems away. Occasionally making an effort to not be so much of a dick anymore…”

Beau smiled at that, genuinely.

“Hey, that’s good! That’s great.” She didn’t know when she’d turned into the group’s motivational speaker, but she’d found that it was actually quite nice to see the reactions her compliments and encouragement could bring out in her friends.

“It’s super hard. But I guess as long as you’re trying, that’s what matters. And I’ve really had to try a lot lately, especially being First Mate and all. There’s a lot of stuff to learn if you come from a background like ours. And to unlearn. But I’m sure you’re doing great.”

“Yeah, I don’t know about that,” Keg muttered, with another one of those half-hearted chuckles.

“Don’t sell yourself short,” Beau said, maybe a bit too seriously. She gently elbowed Keg in the side to lighten the mood.

\-------

“Hey, can I ask you something?” Beau asked, several refills, a good meal and much talk and laughter later. It had been gnawing at her for – well, months, really – but over the last few hours it had started to gather a sense of urgency, what with having Keg right there to finally provide her with an answer.

“Ask away.”

“Did you –” Beau paused, deciding that she needed another long sip of her beer before continuing, “Did you not care at all, that we’re soulmates? All the way from the start, I mean?”

“Oh man,” Keg laughed, a little nervously maybe. “To be honest, I completely missed that whole thing until like hours after it happened. I’m not always the most perceptive, as you may have noticed.” She started absentmindedly tapping her thumb against the edge of her cup again. “I definitely had a major freak-out over it once it’d finally dawned on me though.”

Beau smiled a little at that, picking at a splinter in the wood of the bar.

“You always seemed so chill about it to me.”

Keg took a few seconds to respond. “I guess once I calmed down, I figured, what’s the point in fighting it?” She shrugged. “I don’t understand any of that magic shit, but if we’re like, _supposed to be together_ , then that’s fine with me. Makes things easier, you know. We don’t know how long we’ve got on this world. And I mean,” Keg hesitated, just briefly, before pushing through, “the universe obviously gave me quite a catch.”

Beau felt her cheeks reddening despite herself.

“Sorry, was that…? Sorry,” Keg said immediately.

Beau hesitated, then took Keg’s free hand, the one that wasn’t wrapped around her cup, and threaded their fingers together lightly.

“I, eh,” Beau took a deep breath. “I guess I didn’t do too bad either.”

Keg said nothing at that, just squeezed her hand with a smile.

 

It didn’t take long for them to make their way to the room Keg had rented for the night. It was not a glamorous place by any means, but it had a functional, if somewhat small bed, and that was all they needed.

They were already glued together by the time they made it inside, Keg fumbling to close the door behind them and haphazardly dropping her weapons on the floor as Beau’s hands began working on her armor, smiling through their kisses.

Once the various layers of metal and fabric had been discarded to the floor, Beau made quick work of her own monk robes.

Keg didn’t need to be told what to do. Her hands were all over Beau in an instant, and she lifted her off the ground with ease. Beau kissed her more hungrily as Keg carried her slowly to the bed.

She didn’t need to be told what to do there either.

\-------

Beau had no idea what time it was when she awoke, but there was bright sunlight streaming in from between the poorly closed curtains. She took a second to process her surroundings, and, the memories of the previous night flooding back to her, turned around in the bed. Her hand reached out for Keg’s warm, muscular body, but instead, found only cold sheets. Frowning, she sat up, and that was when she noticed the familiar figure huddled on the floor, leaning against the foot of the bedframe.

“The fuck are you doing on the floor?” Beau spoke, her voice still heavy with sleep.

“Shit,” Keg startled, knocking something over that clattered and rolled over the wooden floor. An inkwell, Beau realised, seeing the dark substance pouring out of it as it came to a halt against the far wall. Keg turned around to face her, and Beau could see she was wearing spectacles that looked like it had been a while since they’d seen better days.

“What’s going on, Keg? Why are you-” Beau began drowsily, but Keg interrupted her.

“I’m – shit – listen, I’m sorry. I was just –” Keg seemed to realise she was still wearing the spectacles and hastily took them off, “I was just writing you this letter,” she held up a sheet of paper already containing a lot of crossed out writing, “because –”

“Were you going to leave?” Beau couldn’t keep the indignation out of her voice.

“No!” Keg said hastily. “I mean, yes, but not for long. I just have to be somewhere, but I’ll be back later and I didn’t want to wake you.”

“Oh.”

 

Beau rubbed her eyes and made a quick decision.

She got out of the bed, and Keg’s expression at the sight of her naked body was very easy to decipher.

“I think you should stay here instead,” she said bluntly.

“Um. I really need to –” Keg muttered half-heartedly as Beau walked up to her and ran a finger lightly across her cheek. “I mean, it’s work.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine if you don’t take this one job,” Beau said, bending down to place a kiss on the side of her throat.

Keg actually whimpered.

“I’m – Fuck.”

“You could just travel with us for a while,” Beau said, trailing light kisses across her jaw and cheek. “I mean, if you want.”

Keg actually put some distance between them – just a few inches, but enough to make Beau frown. Keg seemed to want to study her face for something. “You sure?”

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Beau said, as nonchalantly as she could muster, “I don’t have to explain to you that it’s a dangerous life, but there’s a pretty steady cash flow.” Keg looked at her intently for another moment.

“And,” Beau continued, gently placing a hand on the arm that was keeping them apart, “I’d like it if you were around.”

“Okay,” Keg breathed. She moved closer once more so she could continue their earlier activities, hands grabbing Beau softly by the waist.

“I think we're due for a repeat of last night. You know, to make up for all that lost time?” Beau grinned, already leading Keg back to the bed.

Keg pulled her down for another kiss, nodding avidly against Beau’s lips.

“Just for the record, though, I’ve turned into quite the cuddler.”

“I suppose I’ll learn to deal with that.”


End file.
